1. Field of the Technology
The present application relates generally to mobile stations operating in a wireless communication network, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for terminating use of a quick paging channel (QPCH) based on high capacity power source usage.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless communication device, such as a mobile station operating in a cellular telecommunications network, may provide for both voice telephony and data communications. A mobile station may, for example, be compatible with 3rd Generation (3G) communication standards (such as IS-2000 Release 0) and utilize Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) wireless network technologies.
In CDMA communications defined by IS-2000, a quick paging channel (QPCH) is utilized to provide an early indication to a mobile device of whether or not a page message will be present in an upcoming paging slot assigned to the mobile device. The quick paging channel is relatively short in comparison to the upcoming paging slot, so if the indication indicates that no page message will be present, the mobile device does not have to monitor the upcoming paging slot. As apparent, the quick paging channel indication is intended to save power at the mobile device, which no longer has to always repeatedly monitor each assigned paging slot for a page. If the mobile device determines that the quick paging channel indication may be inaccurate, however, the mobile device will still monitor its associated upcoming paging slot.
The quick paging channel utilizes an ON-OFF keying technique. When a relatively large number of mobile devices are operating in the network, indication “collisions” are more likely to occur which causes the quick paging channel indication to become less accurate for use in the mobile device. This causes all mobile devices in the network to have to monitor the paging slots more often. In brief, the more mobile devices utilizing the quick paging channel in the network, the more likely there will be collisions to render any given quick paging channel indication to be inaccurate, and therefore the more likely mobile devices in the network will have to monitor paging slots which increases power consumption for all mobile stations.
Note also that the quick paging channel is provided about 100 milliseconds before an upcoming paging slot for the mobile device. The network must therefore provide the indication and then delay 100 milliseconds prior to actually sending any page message to the mobile device. Thus, this increases the time for the network to send certain page messages to the mobile device, which increases call setup time for the mobile device.
Other systems may exhibit similar problems. Accordingly, what are needed are improved techniques for paging in wireless communication networks.